2 eviction programs are merging in Indianapolis

INDIANAPOLIS (MIRROR INDY) — Two free programs that help people facing eviction in Marion County are merging.

The programs — one run by the city of Indianapolis and another run by Lawrence Township — are similar and started within a year of each other during the pandemic.

In the long term, the two sides hope that combining their efforts will help Indianapolis tenants. Landlords here file about 2,000 evictions every month.

As of now, though, there isn’t a full staff in place.

Tenant navigators working for the city’s Tenant Advocacy Project were told in November they would be out of a job at the end of the year. Navigators meet people in court, helping them make sense of the legal process and get connected to free attorneys.

“It was a smack in the face,” one navigator, Camille Kelly, told Mirror Indy on one of her last days working for the program in December.

Seven navigators were let go. The city and Lawrence Township are in the process of hiring replacements.

Some former workers told Mirror Indy they were invited to apply for the new positions, but they weren’t guaranteed that prior...